JONES WON’T BACK DOWN
Coach defends position after England’s failure
EDDIE JONES has been forced to defend his position as England head coach amid mounting pressure after their worst Six Nations finish.
The dire 32-18 defeat by Ireland condemned England to fifth place in the championship table, with a worse points-difference than in the turbulent 2018 campaign when they also only out-ranked Italy.
Asked if he is still the right man to take England forward, Jones said: ‘That’s not the question at the moment. That’s for other people to answer, not me.’
When pressed if he is convinced he can do a good job, Jones added: ‘Yes, 100 per cent.’ And has the calamitous landmark of defeats against the other three home nations for the first time in 45 years made Jones question himself? ‘No, not at all,’ he insisted.
‘We’re gutted, but this team was always going to go through a period like this after the World Cup.
‘In international rugby, you get to a certain stage and success makes you a bit weak. You need to fight through that. It’s hard to be at the top of the tree all the time. And so the team goes through cycles of success and cycles of failure and I think that’s normal.
‘I knew that a tough period was coming, because we’ve had a good run — we’ve won games that we probably shouldn’t have won. And you get on the other side of the ledger where you lose games that you should have won and it becomes bloody tough.
‘We’re in that period now. This is a mucky period where you know there is change coming and you are trying to get the timing right.’
Addressing the criticism, Jones added: ‘Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I’m sure they’re angry. We expect to win and to play better than we did. The fans have got the right to be disappointed.’
Senior England players attempted to rally round their under-fire head coach, while accepting their share of responsibility.
Maro Itoje said: ‘I believe we’ve got one of the best coaches in the world. He’s a truly special coach. Eddie can’t play the game for us.’
Jones’s side were flattered by the scoreline at the Aviva Stadium, with late tries against 14 and then 13 Irishmen, undermining their claim to have finished the championship in better shape than they started it.
They have finished it with only the hopeless Italians below them and with growing doubts hanging over them. So Bill Sweeney, CEO of the RFU, would be well advised to treat this as a grave matter.
There is a stockpile of problems. Just look at the recent ones. Jones picked his favoured Saracens stars when they were woefully short of game time and said training intensity would get them up to speed.
It didn’t. England could not function with a rusty core.
If that selection strategy was flawed, so were others. Worcester centre Ollie Lawrence started against Scotland, barely received a pass and was then ditched, as if he was the scapegoat.
The days of the awe-struck RFU hierarchy being in thrall to Jones and willing to accept his every word may be numbered.
He always had answers before, or so it seemed, but not now. He was always one step ahead before, or so it seemed, but not now.
In the aftermath of watching England being out-muscled and out-smarted by the Irish, Jones (right) reverted to the recent narrative about his side being in transition. But the claim is hollow. Eleven of his starting XV on Saturday started the World Cup final in November 2019.
This is not a transition phase — not yet anyway. Jack Willis, Jonny Hill and Max Malins have been introduced and there have been cameos for Ben Earl and Dan Robson, but not a big overhaul. The Autumn Nations Cup was a prime opportunity to experiment, which wasn’t taken. One of the primary causes of angst among England supporters is the sense that fine talent is being ignored. Sam Simmonds is the symbol of this waste and a stubborn selection stance which reflects Jones’s distrust of club form. Alex Dombrandt is another in this category, Joe Simmonds too, and Ben Spencer was jettisoned harshly too. While this campaign has highlighted that no player should be untouchable — not even Owen Farrell — that is also true of the coaches. Jones is contracted to the end of the 2023 World Cup, but that can’t mean he avoids scrutiny now. There has to be constant accountability, rather than all judgment being reserved until after the next global showpiece, as if that is all that counts. For several England players, Lions prospects have faded. Not so long ago, Jones suggested that up to 20 of them might be included in Warren Gatland’s squad and Itoje was set for the captaincy. Now, Itoje and Tom Curry may be the only Englishmen in a Lions side which Alun Wyn Jones could lead.
Andy Farrell’s star rose as Ireland head coach with this match. Tadhg Beirne and Robbie Henshaw enhanced their Lions ambitions, and veteran half-backs Conor Murray and Johnny Sexton asserted their enduring class.
IRELAND: Keenan 8, Earls 8, Henshaw 9, Aki 6, Stockdale 6, Sexton 8, Murray 7, Kilcoyne 5, Herring 8, Furlong 9, Henderson 8, Beirne 9, Stander 7, Van der Flier 7, Conan 9. Replacements: Larmour for Stockdale (78), Healy for Kilcoyne (20), Kelleher for Herring (71), Porter for Furlong (64), Baird for Henderson (64), O’Mahony for van der Flier (64). Not Used: Gibson-Park, R. Byrne. ENGLAND: Daly 5, Watson 5, Lawrence 5, Farrell 6, May 5, Ford 4, Youngs 5, M Vunipola 4, Cowan-Dickie 5, Sinckler 5, Itoje 6, Ewels 5, Wilson 5, Curry 7, B Vunipola 4. Replacements: Robson for Farrell (56), Marchant for Ford (53), Genge for M. Vunipola (41), George for Cowan-Dickie (41), Stuart for Sinckler (66), Hill for Ewels (56), Earl for Wilson (53), Martin for B Vunipola (64). Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France).